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Microsoft Removes Xbox 360 Game Patching Fees

Microsoft “admitted” that it has dropped Xbox 360 game patching charges for developers since April 2013.

All Xbox 360 developers have to pay a fee for Microsoft to test and certify their games to run on its console. This certification fee covered the release version of the game in addition to an optional single update. If the game required additional patches, its developer is then required to pay “tens of thousands” of dollars in re-certification fees.

This system is designed to encourage developers not to release their games until they are certain of its quality. Nonetheless, several indie developers blamed it for forcing them not to patch minor or rare defects.

With the new policy in place, developers are allowed to patch their games several times “within reason.”

Microsoft refused to explain why it didn’t make that decision public until some developers leaked it to the press. The company also didn’t confirm whether the new policy applies to Xbox One as well or not.

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It's simple to understand and makes perfect sense, prevents ****** patch jobs and gets companies to release better content. Just wait for the next call of duty, a patch every single day, because the game is just that horrible.

It is really just an excuse to rake in the dough. Plus EA is partnered heavily with Microsoft for the Xbox NSA. Hurting the competition with underhand means and forcing them to sell out is EA's forte. Really....how is an indie company that is just getting started going to test every possible event that can cause a bug? Should every one of them invest 100k just on product testing? I don't think that is feasible.

I have to agree with yea on that. However it does hurt the indie developers since some of them are just trying to make ends meet. But when it comes to people like DICE and other bigger devs they should know better. Even today BF 3 still has freaking Metro glitches that are still going on and that map has been out since the start. There gonna have really hold a tight rope on these larger companies. Of course that's not to allow the indie to slack off.

I agre with this - the amount of patches that need to be downloaded every time I turn my PS3 on is ridiculous. I mean, the post-release support is great and everything, but one patch every now and again instead of one every week would be nice. My 360 doesn't have this problem, and I think the certification fees help with this.

The fees help with nothing. The only thing they do is force devs to leave their games with bugs on the 360. No company releases bug free games, no company can afford to hire millions of testers to run every possible scenario and find every single bug. One company who knows that well and released a solution was Valve, Steam allows early alpha/beta access to games if the developers choose to do so, they get early funding and gamers can play their games before release and report any bugs they find if they feel like it. It's a win-win situation if the devs communicate, and so far I've been pleased with my early access games.

Steam is definitely not win-win unfortunately - it allows developers to suffer the same "hundreds of game breaking patches quick-fire until an issue is fixed is better than a single well-tested patch" mindset. I can understand this with early-access games, it would be helpful, but for released titles it's no different from the PS3. Hell, there's been games that you never let update until the community gives you the thumbs up (Anything by Bethesda, even Valve have released bad patches in the past. The old PC mantra of "if patch breaks, patch again"). On that note, I haven't noticed any 360 games with outstanding bugs so far (aside from the one infamous example) - are there really that many xbox titles with outstanding game-breaking issues?

"Microsoft refused to explain why it didn’t make that decision public until some developers leaked it to the press. The company also didn’t confirm whether the new policy applies to Xbox One as well or not." Blood sucking leaches. I am actually surprised they have let up thus far... On the filpside, maybe they really are pushing for quality.